hello soon to be a new vett owner buying my brothers 75 stingray needs some work but always wanted a vett my trouble is he has done work on the engine and so (dont know why ) he tore out the factroy exaust its a 350 with headers shoud i buy the hooker pipes that look like the standard underbody pipes 194 bucks are spend the big dough on side pipe headers and side pipes??

 

Welcome to CF.
I'm goin' with side pipes on my '80 L-82!

 

Depends. I was going to do Hooker headers and side pipes this fall, even had the wife convinced. Then one day, I'm under the car and realize that the exhaust is only about a year old, and in fine shape. No reason to go with the change until I need exhaust work anyway. One day, the beast will have them, but for now, it sounds throaty and mean enough.

If you have the greenback to burn, or like them enough... go for it.

bill.

 

Joseph 75, why not go back to stock? The GM engineers got pretty much most things right. If they hadn't we'd be talking about Ford Thunderbirds and not Corvettes. By going stock you know that everything fits and everything works. Ask how many guys had to cut here or move this or change that just to put an aftermarket exhaust system in. And if you need work on it later it's custom work at the muffler shop. It's just my opinion.

 

Actually, one major place that you can improve on the Chevy engineering with the C3's is in the exhaust. Getting rid of some of the back pressure definitely makes a difference. The Hooker setups are specifically made for the C3's, and are just bolt-ons. I have done one set of the side pipes for a friend, and it was a couple hours of simple work. The kits include all the hardware, down to the nuts, bolts, and washers. The only thing that isn't included is sidepipe covers to keep from getting scorched when getting in/out of the car. Hooker makes some great stuff. I've never done a Hooker under-car kit for a Vette (done Camaros, Firebirds, and an old T-bird), but from my experience with their quality, I'd venture to guess that the under car kits are as good a fit as the side pipe kits.

In the later years (mine is an 81), any help we can get for our wheezing little 190hp engines is a good thing, and opening up the exhaust flow (and maybe getting rid of the emissions stuff) is definitely welcome sitting next to some ricerboy fartcan muffler equipped civic at the red light.

bill.